Netflix testing discounted price plans for those who subscribe long-term

[midian182]

Why it matters: Netflix might still be the king of streaming services, but it's facing increased competition from the likes of Disney+. Could one of the company’s strategies be to introduce a discounted payment plan for those who sign-up long-term? Possibly, as it’s already testing the scheme in India.

For $6.99 per month, Disney+ can be viewed on four different devices simultaneously and in 4K, where available. If you subscribe for a whole year in one go, that monthly cost works out at just $5.83. Amazon Prime also offers a saving when subscribing for 12 months. But Netflix’s cheapest plan is $8.99, only allows SD viewing on one device at a time, and has no long-term discounts.

To try and make its service more appealing, Netflix is testing discount plans in India, though they’re only available for new and returning customers—not current ones. The longer someone signs-up for, the bigger the discount. Committing for three months knocks 20 percent off the subscription, six months brings a 30 percent saving, and 12 months will discount the price by 50 percent.

“We believe that our members may value the flexibility that comes from being able to pay for a few months at once,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “This is a test and we will only introduce it more broadly if people find it useful.”

Gadgets 360 spotted a Twitter user who posted an image of the subscription plans, which showed up on the Netflix Android app.

Hey @NetflixIndia @beebomco recently I got this on Netflix android app....netflix Annual plan .... I am interested ❤ pic.twitter.com/neXpWoYkvV

— Tanmay Patel (@Tanmay__Patel) 27 November 2019

With Netflix seemingly raising its prices at regular intervals, a discount plan like this should tempt people to sign-up or return to the service. The question now is whether it will expand beyond India and into other markets.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/83153-netflix-testing-discounted-price-plans-who-subscribe-long.html

 

[Uncle Al]

"To try and make its service more appealing, Netflix is testing discount plans in India, though they’re only available for new and returning customers—not current ones. The longer someone signs-up for, the bigger the discount."

Should they try that here I could easily see the majority of their customers cancel, they start again. Somebody in their marketing department needs to pay more attention to the obvious.

 

[rrwards]

"To try and make its service more appealing, Netflix is testing discount plans in India, though they’re only available for new and returning customers—not current ones. The longer someone signs-up for, the bigger the discount."

Should they try that here I could easily see the majority of their customers cancel, they start again. Somebody in their marketing department needs to pay more attention to the obvious.

Lol yeah that's absolutely something that could happen. The only thing you'd lose by cancelling and signing up again is your watch history right? I'm not super tied to that at all.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

That's interesting... considering I have been thinking of dumping my Netflix subscription of about seven years because a lot of the existing shows my wife and I like are going away and we don't really like their homegrown content - and I particularly don't like their liberal shows. Granted they've had a few good documentaries and reality TV style car shows but it has been in such small numbers that the service isn't worth the high cost it is now. I don't want to pay them to continue making stuff I don't want to see in the first place.

So needless to say if this discounted plan doesn't come to the US I'll probably be cancelling within a few months. And I doubt I'll miss it...

 

[RaXoR]

Lol yeah that's absolutely something that could happen. The only thing you'd lose by cancelling and signing up again is your watch history right? I'm not super tied to that at all.

No downside at all. You lose nothing unless you have some sort of grandfathered lifetime discount no one has heard of.

 

[Scshadow]

So they are reintroducing contracts... got it. It makes sense. Smart people would rotate subscriptions month to month to offset the attempts by the industry to fragment the streaming service industry. Its not a particularly bad idea to have a contract but with a cheaper rate. Its a good trade off, but its just cycling the industry slowly back around to something that resembles Cable subscriptions. Soon all the streaming services will offer contracts. Even further down the road, someone will probably market a streaming services bundle. Then the cycle will be complete. We are back to cable subscriptions except the streaming services does not have to transport the data to the customer prem.

 

[BobHome]

"To try and make its service more appealing, Netflix is testing discount plans in India, though they’re only available for new and returning customers—not current ones. The longer someone signs-up for, the bigger the discount."

Should they try that here I could easily see the majority of their customers cancel, they start again. Somebody in their marketing department needs to pay more attention to the obvious.

If they work it like other streaming services do, you won't be considered 'new' until a year after quitting.

 

[BobHome]

So they are reintroducing contracts... got it. It makes sense. Smart people would rotate subscriptions month to month to offset the attempts by the industry to fragment the streaming service industry. Its not a particularly bad idea to have a contract but with a cheaper rate. Its a good trade off, but its just cycling the industry slowly back around to something that resembles Cable subscriptions. Soon all the streaming services will offer contracts. Even further down the road, someone will probably market a streaming services bundle. Then the cycle will be complete. We are back to cable subscriptions except the streaming services does not have to transport the data to the customer prem.

So they are reintroducing contracts... got it. It makes sense. Smart people would rotate subscriptions month to month to offset the attempts by the industry to fragment the streaming service industry. Its not a particularly bad idea to have a contract but with a cheaper rate. Its a good trade off, but its just cycling the industry slowly back around to something that resembles Cable subscriptions. Soon all the streaming services will offer contracts. Even further down the road, someone will probably market a streaming services bundle. Then the cycle will be complete. We are back to cable subscriptions except the streaming services does not have to transport the data to the customer prem.

I learned AT&T has a new AT&T TV streaming service--with a 24 months subscription. It comes with a box & remote (Android). Only in a few markets right now. They are advertising $59.99 a month for 12 months... with higher prices for months 13-24. I was told that price is $93 a month.

I think AT&T is trying to drive people back to cable.

 

[wiyosaya]

If they do bring this to the US, I'll seriously consider cancelling my subscription then signing up again.

I learned AT&T has a new AT&T TV streaming service--with a 24 months subscription. It comes with a box & remote (Android). Only in a few markets right now. They are advertising $59.99 a month for 12 months... with higher prices for months 13-24. I was told that price is $93 a month.

I think AT&T is trying to drive people back to cable.

AT&T (aka DirecTV) cannot get over the fact that people do not want to pay $93/mo. for channels they do not watch regularly. I think AT&T is addicted to their customer's wallets and they are presently incapable of admitting that the time of price gouging for subscription TV is over.

That's interesting... considering I have been thinking of dumping my Netflix subscription of about seven years because a lot of the existing shows my wife and I like are going away and we don't really like their homegrown content - and I particularly don't like their liberal shows. Granted they've had a few good documentaries and reality TV style car shows but it has been in such small numbers that the service isn't worth the high cost it is now. I don't want to pay them to continue making stuff I don't want to see in the first place.

So needless to say if this discounted plan doesn't come to the US I'll probably be cancelling within a few months. And I doubt I'll miss it...

The "liberal" programming is the best part!

 

[Ryan Barrett]

I learned AT&T has a new AT&T TV streaming service--with a 24 months subscription. It comes with a box & remote (Android). Only in a few markets right now. They are advertising $59.99 a month for 12 months... with higher prices for months 13-24. I was told that price is $93 a month.

I think AT&T is trying to drive people back to cable.

If you get lucky with the cancellation dept. it ends up being similar. Right now I'm paying $105 after taxes for the Uverse 300 plan which is everything except HBO, Cinemax and NFL Red Zone and 50 Mbps internet.

 

[Ryan Barrett]

So they are reintroducing contracts... got it. It makes sense. Smart people would rotate subscriptions month to month to offset the attempts by the industry to fragment the streaming service industry. Its not a particularly bad idea to have a contract but with a cheaper rate. Its a good trade off, but its just cycling the industry slowly back around to something that resembles Cable subscriptions. Soon all the streaming services will offer contracts. Even further down the road, someone will probably market a streaming services bundle. Then the cycle will be complete. We are back to cable subscriptions except the streaming services does not have to transport the data to the customer prem.

People also forget the hidden cost of your internet bill significantly increasing when you don't have it bundled with cable. So all your streaming services plus the price of internet ends up being the same. I pay $105 a month with taxes and then $14 or so for Netflix (because no one I know has a 4k netflix account I can share) and Amazon Prime which I've always had regardless for the shipping. Just a bonus that they started adding original programming that's actually good.

 

[fluffydestroyer]

Netflix are *****s if they dont account current subs. I don't even know if its a good idea on the long term financial side. Sure for the customer you end up saving cash and you pay less to netflix. But for netflix, if a lot of customers do it, they end up having less revenue. I don't get it why Netflix or their investors would do it except they think its going to get them more customers to subscribe to their service but hey, if I can save...why not. I

 

[wiyosaya]

People also forget the hidden cost of your internet bill significantly increasing when you don't have it bundled with cable. So all your streaming services plus the price of internet ends up being the same. I pay $105 a month with taxes and then $14 or so for Netflix (because no one I know has a 4k netflix account I can share) and Amazon Prime which I've always had regardless for the shipping. Just a bonus that they started adding original programming that's actually good.

Personally, I did not forget the cost of Internet when streaming. I went from Dish Network paying $80 something dollars a month on top of which I paid some $50 a month for Time Warner - now Specturd for internet access. I now pay less than $20 a month for streaming services and still pay $50 a month for Specturd.

Paying Specturd is about to change for me. I'll be paying a local fiber provider $50 a month for five-times both my current Specturd upload and download speeds.

Maybe I am not representative of the average cord-cutter, but I am certainly not among those who see cord-cutting as a keep up with the Jones' fad and ignore costs. Honestly, I think many people who cut the cord are of a similar mindset.

 

[Yynxs]

Someone on Fox News one night pointed out that Cable is the only reason CNN hasn't folded. Their rating were such that only 975,000 people watched them regularly and that is pretty miniscule advertising market. However, it turns out that over 87 million people had cable basic services which includes CNN (and the other Main Stream Media Propaganda Industrial Complex MSMPIC stations) and CNN was collecting about a buck a month from the cable franchise. That's 87 million dollars a month for a market share under 2% of the audience. It's why everyone keeps working even when the 'reporting' got nothing sort of ridiculous.

For some reason a factoid stuck in my head about Fox News and Comcast having a cable contract that ran until 2025, I don't believe either side can cancel it, but that's just me (I would have to chase it down). Anyway, if the same thing is true about CNN (et al) then having news channels fail because of falling audience numbers is not going to happen soon.

Those of you that 'cord cut' and are seeing all these sign up offers for lower rates for some pretty obscure and EAASL channels, as well as, the MSMPIC sets should examine them for a cable company involvement. If cable, Fox News included. If not no Fox (I know, who cares?)

Well Netflix has long term broadcasting contracts and multi-country requirements for broadcasting. Some of those 'long term' codices may include 'number of subscribers'. Gaining a larger audience, no matter what the short term cash flow decline is, could keep certain broadcasting 'rights' active.